The dance field is overflowing with virtuosity. You turn on the TV: Someone not only thinks she can dance, she back-flips, slides across the stage on knee pads, gets hoisted on a partner’s raised hand. At the great ballet companies—American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet—you see frenetic leaps, whirring pirouettes, logic-defying […]
Breaking from its tradition of starting each season with tried-and-true Balanchine ballets, NYCB opens its spring season tomorrow with 21st-century choreographers. It might be risky, but I say, All hail to living dance makers! There will be no shortage of choreographic grandeur. Among the larger works, there are the intriguing fantasy-scape of Ratmansky’s Namouna, A […]
Youth American Grand Prix, the largest youth competition for ballet in the world, has always stressed artistry as well as technique in its galas. For its blockbuster 15th anniversary two-night celebration, students in the house screamed equally for fabulous jumps and turns as for the poetry of classicism. Another hallmark of these galas, as organized […]
Sara Mearns talks about the creative process from her side of the studio. Sara Mearns working with Karole Armitage on A Dancer’s Dream It’s not always discussed, but dancers are as integral to the creative process as choreographers. That notion gives Sara Mearns, the fearless and ravishing principal at New York City Ballet, reason […]
The ranks of New York City Ballet are a veritable breeding ground for great choreographers: Christopher Wheeldon, Benjamin Millepied and Justin Peck all launched their choreography careers while dancers in Balanchine’s company. The latest talent to keep an eye on is Silas Farley. He just joined the corps in August, but he’s been choreographing since […]
This year we celebrate five extraordinary artists: San Francisco Ballet principal Yuan Yuan Tan, dance-theater innovator Martha Clarke, European maverick Mats Ek, Balanchine ballerina Patricia Wilde, and the composer who makes us want to lose ourselves in dancing—Philip Glass. Yuan Yuan Tan When Yuan Yuan Tan receives the Dance Magazine Award this month, […]
The NYCB Dancer moves with joy and energy. Rehearsing Justin Peck’s In Creases Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy NYCB The first pas de deux of Jerome Robbins’ I’m Old Fashioned may have the most daunting entrance in New York City Ballet’s repertory. Dedicated to Fred Astaire, it opens with a film clip from You Were Never […]
The New York City Ballet gala last week saw a huge improvement in the fashion department. Ballet lovers cringed last year at the over-the-top ruffley gowns and bulbous tutus by Valentino. This year, two of the three chosen designers gave their choreographers a welcome gift that helped the audiences see the movement. (The third designer, […]
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